Family Tree
by lovingthis
Summary: "Are you gonna be like your father was and his father was? Do you have to carry what they've handed down?" Family Tree- Matthew West.


This is a songfic inspired by Family Tree by Matthew West.

A few weeks ago Cengiz and I were sending youtube songs to each other and she said that the song made her think of Matt. So she decided to write a fic for it. (I love it!- She's uploading at the same time as me called "Stuck" so _**READ**_!)

The song made me think of Matt too- but I took a different approach. I asked Cengiz if I would write my take on it and got a yes so here it is!

Enjoy!

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><p>"That happened last week, Mr. Anderson... you don't seem particularly surprised by it."<br>"'Been told I don't have a very expressive face."  
>-If you'd seen what I have… you wouldn't be surprised by that…<p>

Matt would never have spoken the last words. It's not that he didn't want to, he desperately wished he could sometimes. Just have one small moment of weakness where he could admit to the weight on his shoulders, the ache that tore in his heart. One moment, a split second, where he could lean on someone, feel loved, feel normal.

_You didn't ask for this, nobody ever would,  
>Caught in the middle of this dysfunction.<em>  
><em>It's your sad reality, it's your messed up family tree,<br>And all you're left with all these questions.  
><em>  
>He had been born into this, this was why he existed, to do that which his father, grandfather and great grandfather failed to do. There was no other purpose to him. Children were rare in the future. No-one wanted to bring them into the world.<br>They, the human race, had decided it was time to let themselves die out rather than force future generations to suffer the barren wasteland.

_Are you gonna be like your father was and his father was?  
>Do you have to carry what they've handed down?<em>

Matt was raised to stop his life from ever happening. To stop his father from wanting, needed, him to be born.  
>No-one knew what would happen if he succeeded, would he erase himself from existence and create a never ending paradox? Would he get stuck in his new timeline?<p>

_No, this is not your legacy, this is not your destiny,  
>Yesterday does <strong>not<strong> define you._

Could he cope, being stuck in a new time? He didn't know twenty-first century life. All Matt knew was training, fighting, survival. That was what he was. A fighter. He'd never felt emotions such as happiness, joy, or even something so simple as… content. Just content with his life. To find nothing lacking, to know there wasn't anything more that he needed. Just who he was and what he had.

All Matt knew was fighting, strife, and the closest thing he had ever had to love- a deep respect for his father.

_No, this is not your legacy, this is not your meant to be.  
>I can break the chains that bind you.<em>

Then along came Emily. The woman from the past, as headstrong and stubborn as he, forced to fight in times that weren't her own. She started to show him a new way of life, where you rely on others, those around you, to achieve your goal. He had never experienced such a thing before. All his life it was his job to be independent, to work alone, gather information and process it by himself. She showed him that what he had been lead to believe was right could well be wrong. She changed the very foundations of his being, an action so monumental he was captivated by her, enchanted, consumed.

_I have a dream for you, it's better than where you've been,  
>It's bigger than your imagination.<em>

Emily- Lady Emily- who went back to her own time to free him. To free him from the only time he ever wished to be bound. Somehow, she had understood him, all that he fought for, Emily somehow comprehended the enormity of the future.

Maybe it was because she was from the past and the twenty-first century people didn't appreciate the earth as much as she. Maybe it was because she was like he; she had been raised a certain way, to look at her duties, to think of others and their views before she thought of herself.

She was amazing. Lady Emily. She had all the control that he strove for, sacrificing herself for what was right when she, when he, when they both wanted something so much more than they've ever known.

_You're gonna find real love, and you're gonna hold your kids.  
>You'll change the course of generations.<br>_  
>Emily gave him a hope. The hope of something better, greater. At her return to him, he knew he had this second chance. Emily gave him something that his father and his father and <em>his <em>father had never had. Emily gave him love. Something more precious to him than the entire world. More important to his being than the future of the human race.

_Oh, this is not your legacy, this is not your destiny,  
>Yesterday does <strong>not<strong> define you._

_No, this is not your legacy, this is not your meant to be,_  
><em>I can break the chains that bind you.<em>

Matt no longer cared. He wanted life. He wanted more than any of his ancestors could understand. He wanted to buy a ring, he wanted a white wedding, his blushing bride glowing with happiness. He wanted a family. A house with photos, personal touches. He wanted to shop for child friendly furniture, school uniforms. He wanted a Christmas where the family gathers and has fun. He wanted to be together, he wanted to be so in love with his family at such a deep level he would do anything for them.

_Cause you're my child, you're my chosen. _

_"You are loved, you are loved."_

Emily's words fixed him. Fixed the pain and hurt he had never realised existed, the emotions which he felt were a norm. She made him recognise the despair that had been weighing him down his entire life. Emily crushed him in deep, deep, anguish… and then she took it away.

"_And I will restore all that was broken,  
><em>I know I took a lot away from you when you came to this time with me. I…" Matt struggled to speak what he meant. "I want to give it all back. I want… Emily, I want…" There was a moments glance to the floor. "Will you marry me?"

The ring Matt presented was her family heirloom, lost in the recess of time after her disappearance. The lady had searched far and wide for it, Jess had helped also, but both had been unable to track it down. Seven generations it had been in Emily's family, passed from mother to daughter.  
>As Emily's shaking hands took the object in awe she noted that the diamond studded opal ring held a new addition, a small inscription to add for the future.<br>To look forwards to a new world- should Emily accept.  
>Words that made Matt whole.<br>Words that he wished to pass on to any children that they may have.

"_You are loved, you are loved."_

Matt softened, sold the flat, bought a house in the suburbs. Together with Becker and Connor he build up a picket fence and with his new fiancée he shopped for a more family suitable car. He planned for his future. _His_ future with _his_ wife and _his_ friends. Matt thought of his childhood and attempted to make his surroundings as different as possible.

Every day, without fail, he kissed Emily and told her of his love. At every possible opportunity he placed an arm over her shoulder and pulled her close. Not a second went past in which he didn't think about Emily, his Emily, his love, his life.

_And just like the seasons change, winter into spring,  
>You're bringing new life to your family tree now.<br>Yes you are, you are.  
><em>

"How is she?" Matt grabbed Connor and shook him the second he and Becker reached the ARC. The men had been trapped for four months on the other side of an anomaly, in the ARC time it had been three weeks. "And my child? Born? Healthy? What day?"

Connor produced a piece of paper and held it out.

"A girl!" Matt's jaw dropped and tears filled his eyes as he looked at the picture in his hands. Five generations of males in the Anderson family and now his daughter, swathed in pink, cradled gently by her beaming mother.  
>"It happened last week, Matt." Connor grinned. "You look-" He broke off. Unable to describe the pure joy etched across Matt's face as he ran for the car park, heading to the hospital.<p>

_Oh, oh, ooh,_  
><em>Oh, this will be your legacy, this will be your destiny,<em>  
><em>Yesterday did not define you.<em>

_Oh, this will be your legacy, this will be your meant to be,  
>I can break the chains that bind you.<em>

_And just like the seasons change, winter into spring,  
>You're bringing new life to your family tree now.<em>

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><p>Let me know what you think and read Cengiz's too!<p>

Thank you too all my wonderful readers!


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